Proposal for Outdoor Installation, Adelaide Festival 2001
We propose a sound sculpture which is many other things as well. It is an ice-skating rink, a night-time performance, and a demonstration of a sustainable technology. It is an 'impossible object' on an improbable site - a Snow Dome on the surface of The Torrens River in the Australian summer month of March. |
A Thin Skin of Ice Floating on a Warm Body of Water
We will invite children and adults to skate on this rink by day. By night a solo skater will perform in a lighted dome, for the delight of an audience on the banks of the river. The dome will be surrounded by a drift net of clear battery-lighted spheres, full with swirling artificial snow.
A Fragile Botanic Image Atop
The sensual atmosphere of cold, snow, and ice are the inverse of the Australian summer environment. Congruent with this inversion, there will be a tropical botanic image capping the dome.
Sound Sculpture- A Music of Movement
A multi-channel music composition will 'slide' along the inner walls and arc across the ceiling of the dome. Musical phrases will sashay, whoosh, and dart to accompany the gliding motions of skaters.
An Alternative Technology Trial
Our project will test an alternative energy system that could greatly benefit Adelaide. To freeze the rink we will use new 'pump and dump' technology, 'Climate Master Geo Exchange'. The Snow Dome will be extremely beautiful while addressing challenging environmental dilemmas. This project will educate the scientist and the lay public, while allowing festival-goers to participate in an activity which is deliciously enjoyable but does not cost the earth.
Search for Sustainable Technology
From the beginning we searched for sustainable technologies to run our project.
We rang Roger Cooke of Climate Master Geo Exchange to ask whether his technology could be incorporated into our Festival concept. Roger enthusiastically suggested that the Geo Exchange units could be connected up to the ice rink to make the ice and sustain the project. Roger referred us to engineer Richard Marks, and we flew to Adelaide to meet Richard and Roger, to discuss the project proposal, and to look at potential sites. As a consequence, our work is to be part of a Catchment Board experiment to test the 'pump and dump'technique.
History of the Catchment Board Trial
Richard Marks was working on a means of eliminating the blue green algae which appears in the Torrens each summer. He realised he could use the Geo Exchange 'pump and dump' techniques to combat the algae, and at the same time provide air conditioning and heating for buildings along the river.There is an uneven temperature gradient from the bottom to the top of the water in the Torrens. The resulting stratification, in combination with high nutrient input and hot weather means the surface of the river is ideal for the growth of blue green algae.
Richard identified the fact that the Torrens is a geo-exchange resource waiting to be tapped by the abutting CBD. At the same time, by using the 'pump and dump' technique, the 'dumping' water can be passed through nozzles along the bottom of the Torrens to mix and de-stratify the water.
Richard and Roger approached the Torrens River Catchment Board with the idea. The Board proposed to purchase two Climate Master units and to run a trial with artificial loads (ie. discharging into the air instead of actually heating or cooling something).However, as a result of our meeting our Snow Dome will serve as a real load in the experiment (rather than using a false load, as originally proposed).
